How the World’s Most Successful Founders Approach Failure

From what we’ve learned from their successes, we’ve designed a set of lessons to lead successful founders to their next success. The core ideas are:

Treat your life like a game or a martial art,” says Dalio. “Your mission is to figure out how to get around your challenges to get to your goals. In the process of playing the game or practicing this martial art, you will become more skilled. As you get better, you will progress to ever-higher levels of the game that will require — and teach you — greater skills.

Be fearless. When someone takes you seriously, you learn to believe they have the same drive you do. If they fail because you’re not listening, they’re failing because you’re too scared to try.

When someone takes you seriously, you learn to believe they have the same drive you do. If they fail because you’re not listening, they’re failing because you’re too scared to try.

Look for new ways to fail. We’re all pretty good at trying something new, whether that’s making the first pitch at your job or a startup, but it isn’t always going to work out the way you want. Instead, be brave enough to fail.

Remember that failure is a chance to take steps in the right direction and learn from your mistakes, not a guarantee.

You don’t need to know that you’re smart enough or powerful enough to succeed, nor does it mean you don’t need to invest a lot of time or money in learning from your mistakes. 

Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood.

Helen Keller

The key is learning how to succeed from failure. You can’t just rely on failures for validation – you have to find ways to be more confident in your abilities.